For five consecutive days, wildfires fanned by strong winds have ravaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles, destroying more than 12,300 homes and buildings and leaving at least 16 dead. Fresh evacuations were ordered from Mandeville Canyon to the Interstate 405 freeway on Friday evening because of a flare-up of the massive Palisades Fire.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Firefighters were slowly making progress in their battle to contain the inferno that has burned wide areas of Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood to the ground, but spreading flames and strong winds still threatened communities in the populous San Fernando Valley on Sunday.

The Palisades Fire, already one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles, has prompted new evacuation orders in one of the city’s major population centers. After burning the iconic Pacific Palisades neighborhood to the ground and attacking beachside communities,